'I will kill you,' Allentown gunman threatens wife, police say

An Allentown man angry that his wife had locked him out when he returned home from a party early Monday kicked his way in, put a pistol to his wife's head and told her "I will kill you," police said.

Edgar D. Maldonado, 39, of 444 Gordon St. came home at 2 a.m. and found the back door locked, police said. Once inside, he allegedly choked his wife, Evelisa, pushed her against a wall and put her through nine hours of terror.

When she ran to an upstairs bedroom and laid down next to their sleeping 8-year-old daughter, he followed her up, leaned over to her and said, "I will kill you and everybody in the house. I will take everyone down," police said.

Edgar Maldonado was arrested after his wife escaped at 10:45 a.m. and, as Maldonado smashed her car window, she drove off to get police, the arrest affidavit says.

Maldonado was charged with making terroristic threats, using a firearm in a crime, simple assault and harassment. Arraigned by District Judge Karen C. Devine, he was sent to Lehigh County Prison under $25,000 bail.

Police said that when Maldonado first put the handgun to his wife's head and threatened to kill her, she pleaded with him, reminding him that she is the mother of his daughter.

Maldonado let her go momentarily, according to the arrest affidavit, but he pursued her to the bedroom. After renewing his death threat, he retreated downstairs while his wife stayed in the bed with their daughter, police said.

Evelisa Maldonado did not try to phone police because she feared Edgar Maldonado would kill her if he heard, police said.

Soon after she drove off from the house, she found a uniformed city police officer at Fourth and Turner streets, police said. Police quickly tracked down her husband in the neighborhood.

Maldonado had a .45 caliber handgun with him when he was arrested, police said.